TL;DR: Anabolic steroids may offer users athletic and aesthetic advantages, but the price you may pay for them may not be worth your while.
Let us just start by saying that, we are not doctors. This article is not medical advice, nor should it be treated as such. This article is purely for educational purposes. Finally, we do not condone the use of any illegal substances nor the use of any prescription drug without a say-so from your physician.
Introduction
Welcome back UpRiver, biohacker. Today’s article will be like our other articles except on STEROIDS.
No, really, this article is talking about steroids…
Steroids are one of the most popular drugs on the planet for fitness junkies, bodybuilders, and regular people simply looking to improve their physiques. Furthermore, they’re used by actors, stuntmen, and models to achieve a look that is usually tied to their ability to make a living.
We will start by covering what steroids actually are and then offer their origin story. We will then jump into the different kinds of steroids, followed by their usage, safety, and legal status around the globe. With those covered, we will jump into a growing discussion regarding their legalization and a proponent’s hypothetical reasons for demanding their legalization and general access.
A quick couple of notes before getting started. First, let us just mention that when we make reference to steroids in this article, we are predominantly talking about exogenous steroid use. The body does technically produce its own steroids within its own walls, but this article focuses on the use of compounds or the introduction of compounds not normally found naturally in the body.
Second, there are two families of steroids. These families are known as corticosteroids and anabolic-androgenic steroids. The former kind is used primarily for people with asthma and other such respiratory conditions to acutely lower inflammation, and the latter is the family of steroids this article will be focusing on.
With that said, let’s jump right in.
What are Anabolic Steroids?
First off, the full name for these bad boys is actually anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS). Now while this is a little bit of a mouthful, allow us to break down what these three words actually mean. Anabolic in biochemical terms (check out our article on kinesiology in general HERE) means to grow. Androgenic means masculine features, or features corresponding to a male’s anatomy; and steroids are any of a class of natural or synthetic organic compounds characterized by a molecular structure of 17 carbon atoms arranged in four rings. So, when putting these three together, we describe a kind of hormone that causes the body to not only grow in some way, but also in a man-like manner (check out our article on how to be more manly without drugs HERE).
Now, technically speaking, from an endogenous perspective, hundreds of steroid compounds are manufactured in plants, animals, and fungi.[1] Similar to lipids, steroids are highly concentrated energy stores. In mammals, steroids are normally metabolized and excreted to access this energy.[2] In the body, steroids are defined as having 2 main very important biological functions:[3]
- As important components of cell membranes, which alter membrane fluidity; and
- As signaling molecules in long chains of biochemical reactions.
Interestingly enough, steroids are considered highly malleable and versatile little guys, with several functions being served and easily changed by slightly manipulating some of their carbon chains. For instance, in addition to having the aforementioned 17 carbon atoms, these atoms are divided into 4 ‘chains’ — A, B, C, and D. By subtly manipulating, adding or subtracting a few carbon atoms, you can readily get cholesterol (as seen below), or by simply opening the B chain, you get what is called a secosteroid, also known as the notorious Vitamin D3.[4]
Thus far, it can be readily seen how versatile and essential these guys are for the body, forming the building blocks of the endocrine system, and keeping us alive. But we will be now taking a look at steroids exogenously, where the Hollywood vilification of these compounds often originates.
The History of Anabolic Steroids
Despite anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS’s) having a colored past, they were originally developed by German scientists led by chemist Adolf Butenandt, as a way to treat hypogonadism, also known as testosterone deficiency.[5] Butenandt’s findings were considered so significant to the medical and global community that his work was actually awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1939. Butenandt and his team were considered to have cracked many of the codes surrounding human sex hormones, which puzzled many a scientist before them. Notwithstanding Butenandt’s initial rejection of the award due to government policy, he did eventually accept it following the conclusion of WWII.[6]
(Adolf Butenandt pictured above)
Steroids were now seen by especially the german people for what they were: a way to increase and improve several biologically masculine traits. Aggression and strength were at the forefront of the effects.
Come 1940, anecdotal accounts place AAS’ as important tools among the ranks of Nazi’s and for Hitler, himself.[7] The All Research Journal would describe evidence of Hitler’s usage of steroids as follows:
“Retrospectively, according to his physician, Hitler’s mental state toward the end of his life exhibits characteristics that some scientists associate with heavy steroid use: mania, acute paranoid psychoses, overly aggressive and violent behavior, depression, and suicidal ideologies.”[8]
Speaking of WWII, there are also reports of steroids being used as a restorative elixir. During the post-war healing time following much wreckage and destruction, there are reports of steroids being used on both soldiers, and concentration-camp survivors in order to help restore them to full health.[9]
Now in 1954 something really interesting happens. The USSR began to destroy everyone in all sports related to strength and powerlifting. The american weightlifting doctor John Ziegler would eventually catch wind that the USSR were using “steroids” on their performance athletes. Upon his finding that the compounds the USSR team were using caused enlarged prostates, Ziegler went to work.[10]
He began developing a compound that focused on the first ‘A’ in AAS – anabolic. His goal was to reduce the androgenic effects (prostate enlargement, for instance), and increase the anabolic effects. Alas, in 1958, methandrostenolone, or better known, Dianabol or D-Bol was born.
Our second-to-last historical stop on the AAS Express is in Montreal, Canada, 1976. This year displayed the true firepower behind the anabolic steroid. To set the scene, it was arguably the grandest stage for physical athleticism the world had seen thus far – the modern Olympic Games. While other global competitors trained for years and years, sacrificing work and leisure to train, the German swimming team did all that but had one little secret weapon up their sleeves, anabolic steroids. (Steroids were officially banned the year prior, but the German swimming team went ahead anyway…)
How did the results turn out, you ask?
Well, of the 13 swimming gold medals, Germany won 3…
Oh… and another 8…
Yeah. They won 11 of the 13. On top of that, they also set 8 world records.[11]
Suffice to say, steroids work. As such, they are basically banned in every major sporting competition around the world. We will return to what position steroids hold in our society in the following sections of the article.
What Do Steroids Do To the Body?
As a quick prenote, do keep in mind that this topic can be explained in almost infinite intricacy and depth. In light of this we will take a middle route that probably exposes you to more than you know about steroids, but while also keeping it straight forward enough to complete novices. Onward!
In simple terms, steroids drastically increase muscular output, massively improve muscular recovery, and help one build considerable muscular volume. In a word, AAS’ mimic the function of testosterone in the body. Now, while all of these effects seem very desirable, it’s important to take a deeper look into what is happening to the body on a biochemical level for these processes to occur.
To start off, steroids are either taken in pill form (oral) or as an injectable. While a lot of people think that pills are better (as sticking a pin in your arm seems a whole lot more nefarious), oftentimes it’s the opposite. Whereas injectables go directly into the bloodstream, highly toxic ingestibles/orals must be filtered by the liver and thus may cause more damage to the body.[12]
That said, here’s the rundown; we’re going to get a little esoteric, boys:
An average healthy male’s testes produce 4 – 9mg of testosterone every single day (find out how to naturally boost yourself to the higher end of this spectrum HERE and HERE.) However, when supplementing with synthetic T, you will massively increase these numbers. The new T will be treated as if it were your own body’s supply and attach to the androgen receptors of your cells.
Following this process, it will travel to the nucleus of the cell and attach itself to the DNA. This entire process leads to the biochemical stimulation of hundreds of genes, which control protein synthesis (the process by which protein is turned into a muscle or other building blocks for the body).[13] As a result, your muscle enjoys a high protein turnover rate (PTR), which leads to muscular growth. Essentially, a muscle protein is both broken down and used to build up the tissues of the muscle. With better protein synthesis and a higher PTR, your muscle will now be slanted significantly more toward the building component of the muscle’s function.[14] This, though, is only the tip of the iceberg.
Anabolic steroid use also increases the number of nuclei or myonuclei found in the muscle cells.[15] You can think of these myonuclei as the control center of each muscle. The reason this is beneficial is that it has been shown that the more nuclei you have in your muscles, the more potential those muscles have for stimulus, and thus, growth.[16] However, there’s a catch:
Each myonuclei is subject to something called a myonuclear domain (MND). Essentially what this is, is the area of a muscle that the myonuclei can command. However, as the muscle as a whole continues to grow, the myonuclei become further spaced apart.[17] This would leave more and more fiber that the nuclei could not command to grow as the area would exceed their MND, thus resulting in more muscular stagnation (plateaus). Fortunately though, as the increase in testosterone encourages the growth of more myonuclei, the muscle as a whole enjoys a one-two punch with growth in fiber and genesis of new nuclei that would otherwise leave untapped hypertrophic (growth) potential.[18]
In fact, the time it takes to generate new nuclei in a muscle is one of the main limiting factors for why natural athletes cannot build, say, 50lbs, of muscle in a couple of months. Conversely, with exogenous synthetic testosterone causing myonuclear addition (MNA), this is one of the biggest factors why ‘enhanced’ athletes enjoy the physiological benefits they do.[19] Interestingly, once those nuclei are in your muscles, they’re potentially there forever, even when discontinuing steroid use. One study conducted in the Journal of Physiology performed on mice subjects corroborates these findings:
“Based on in vivo and ex vivo microscopy we here propose a cellular memory mechanism residing in the muscle cells. Female mice were treated with testosterone propionate for 14 days, inducing a 66% increase in the number of myonuclei and a 77% increase in fibre cross-sectional area. Three weeks after removing the drug, fibre size was decreased to the same level as in sham-treated animals, but the number of nuclei remained elevated…”[20]
Okay okay, so you get it. Steroids are damn effective at building muscle, but you may ask how effective. Let’s turn to a very conclusive study conducted by Shalender Bhasin et al. in the highly respected New England Journal of Medicine to settle the issue:
This study was a 10-week study of 43 men, who were randomly divided in 4 groups:
- No steroids, no working out.
- Yes steroids, no working out.
- No steroids, yes working out.
- Yes steroids, yes working out.
The groups using steroids used 600mg of testosterone per week and here’s what the study found:
“Among the men in the no-exercise groups, those given testosterone had greater increases than those given placebo in muscle size in their arms (mean [±SE] change in triceps area, 424±104 vs. -81±109 mm2; P<0.05) and legs (change in quadriceps area, 607±123 vs. -131±111 mm2; P<0.05) and greater increases in strength in the bench-press (9±4 vs. -1±1 kg, P<0.05) and squatting exercises (16±4 vs. 3±1 kg, P<0.05). The men assigned to testosterone and exercise had greater increases in fat-free mass (6.1±0.6 kg) and muscle size (triceps area, 501±104 mm2; quadriceps area, 1174±91 mm2) than those assigned to either no-exercise group, and greater increases in muscle strength (bench-press strength, 22±2 kg; squatting-exercise capacity, 38±4 kg) than either no-exercise group.”[21]
In other words, in 10 weeks, the group who trained with steroids had a 300%+ the gain in fat-free muscle growth when compared to the group who trained without steroids! (Recall Germany taking home 11 of the 13 gold medals…)
With the obvious evidence that steroids are effective and their molecular mechanisms out of the way, we’ll now shift over to the legality of these substances before returning to the question of safety regarding these compounds.
Note: While there is evidence that steroids also help other processes in the body like burning body fat and increasing general metabolism, the scientific jury is still out regarding how these processes take place.
What is the Legal Status and Pervasiveness of Steroids?
Interestingly enough, at the time of writing this article, steroids are only fully illegal in 4 regions. These regions are: the UK, the USA, Canada, and Australia. In other areas such as New Zealand and Germany for example, offering and selling are illegal, but buying them and possessing them are legal.[22]
In the US and Canada, steroids are a Schedule III substance meaning that they have a moderate potential for abuse, but offer valuable medicinal qualities when prescribed by a doctor.
Steroid use is very popular in certain demographics. In the US, only about 0.5% of the general population say they have taken steroids.[23] However, generally, when someone does a “cycle” they continue doing so for years and years. Additionally, users often use quite a bit at one time. This is largely why the illegal American steroid market is worth $13.8 billion annually.[24]
How Safe are Steroids?
There are a couple of different ways to look at this question. First, is what it does to the body as a result of direct steroid use, and the second is with respect to what issues steroids may expose the users to. First thing’s first.
In terms of the negative effect steroid use has on the body, the most obvious place to start is likely the testes. Simply put, taking synthetic testosterone shuts down your natural T production. While sometimes your natural T will come back when synthetic administration is halted, other times and for some people, it will not. In both cases, however, your testicles may, and likely will atrophy. As your body senses there is already plenty T to go around, the body’s endocrine glands signal the testes to stop function and thus they shrink in size. This unfortunately has an adverse effect on sperm production and fertility. On this topic, there is a popular misconception that atrophy happens to the penis when taking steroids, but this is actually false; if anything the opposite may prove to be true…[25]
Next, in terms of what concerns may arise as a direct use of steroids, are cardiovascular health problems. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) draws our attention to the following health risks when using steroids, many of which are cardiovascular in nature:[26]
- High blood pressure
- Blood clots
- Heart attacks
- Stroke
- Artery damage
They go on to say:
“Steroid use has been associated with high blood pressure; decreased function of the heart’s ventricles; and cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks, artery damage, and strokes, even in athletes younger than 30.”[27]
The next big issue is liver damage. Again the National Institute on Drug Abuse has this to say regarding liver issues:
Steroid misuse has been associated with liver damage, tumors, and a rare condition called peliosis hepatis, in which blood-filled cysts form in the liver. The cysts can rupture, causing internal bleeding and even death in rare cases.[28]
As mentioned above, there are two different ways of looking at the steroids health question. While the first has been addressed by the issues just mentioned, the second concerns cancers predominantly.
The issue today is that scientists are not sure how steroid use actually causes cancer. However, what they do know is that steroid use and abuse certainly leads people to states where they seem to develop it more than the general population (which is already far too high). In this sense then, we cannot put a number or a statistic on the issue of cancer concerning steroids, but we can say that steroids certainly seem to expose the user to pre-cancerous states.
Finally, in terms of safety, we have the infamous “roid rage.” The idea here is that people who take steroids are more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior when compared to people who do not take steroids. While there are some studies pointing in both directions, it is hard to say for sure that steroids are the culprit as typically steroid users abuse more compounds than just steroids, which can obviously complicate the question of aggression.[29] The condemners will say that heightened testosterone in the body de facto makes one more aggressive; and the liberators say that it is simply magnifying the traits of an already angry human being. The reality is, we simply don’t know yet and the results are very conflicting on a clinical level.
Should People Have the Right to Steroids?
There is a growing community of men who believe that the general population should be allowed to buy and possess steroids without the legal requirement for a doctor’s prescription. The arguments largely come from two different factions, but both fight for the same conclusion: the right to use and own synthetic testosterone.
On the one hand, we have the general libertarian argument. This argument can be extended to basically all substances and states that as a legal adult, no one, even the state, should have the right to preclude me from taking a substance. The state is not my parent and therefore should not tell me what I can and cannot put in my body, especially when it does no identifiable harm to anyone else.
On the other hand, we have a more nuanced argument as a response to an already readily prescribed medication: birth control (EE2). This argument takes a few different points into view and thus we will now present it as a proponent of this argument ourselves.
To start, birth control is widely taken by the female public, this comes as no surprise to anyone. Birth control, though, is a steroid by definition. Moreover, the filtration plants that city water goes through do not have the sophistication to eradicate the estrogen excreted into the water system such that it does not enter the bodies of all who drink it. As a result, this has led to men over the years, ingesting more and more estrogen which, in turn, has led to estrogenic effects on the population. From acne to gynecomastia (the growing of breast tissue in men), this position takes the stance that estrogen is a pervasive issue in the health of young men in Western society.
(EE2’s are estrogen medications.)
In addition, proponents of this view raise the question of inequality when it comes to the difficulty for men to get their predominant sex hormone, testosterone, prescribed to them when estrogen is prescribed quite readily to women. Furthermore, the dangers involved in women taking exogenous estrogen is an equally long laundry list to the ones associated with men taking exogenous testosterone. An interesting point.
This article is not meant to convince you one way or another, but with this said, there is clearly a need for discussion on the topic. We highly encourage you to talk to us on our forum thread dedicated to this.
Conclusion
Anabolic androgenic steroids are predominantly taken to increase the usage, growth, and repair of muscle fibers. We saw that steroids really offer the user a two-pronged benefit for muscle growth. This included both the genesis of new myonuclei plus the surface area they could operate within; and leveraging protein synthesis to improve the muscle’s protein turnover rate. The indefatigable German Olympic Swimming Team of 1976 along with many other conclusive studies offered direct evidence of synthetic testosterone’s ability to bolster an athlete’s results significantly. Notwithstanding though, we saw how steroids come with real health risks even for otherwise young and healthy people that may make taking these substances not worth your while.
While we did leave some topics like acne development and gynecomastia – which are classically associated with steroids – for next time, we did touch on many other interesting findings. Among these are, how the penis may actually grow from steroid use, while the testes may shrink; some advantages to taking steroids may persist long after ceasing from their use; and ‘roid rage’ may be more of a myth than once thought. Additionally, we hope we left you with an interesting new spin on an argument surrounding why steroids may be beneficial for men to have access to if taken responsibly. With myths busted and science introduced, we trust that your knowledge base on steroids has broadened and that you take a serious look at the risks before jumping into use of these drugs.
Best of luck, biohacker, and keep moving Upriver.
References:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steroid
[2]Ibid.
[3]Ibid.
[4]https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09513590601045629
[5] https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/bchm2.1935.237.1-3.89/html (The original study presented here in his native German.)
[6]https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1939/butenandt/biographical/
[7]https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523360500143406?journalCode=fhsp20
[8]https://www.allresearchjournal.com/archives/2015/vol1issue4/PartE/49.1-609.pdf
[9]https://www.si.com/more-sports/2008/03/11/steroid-timeline#:~:text=1935%20German%20scientists%2C%20led%20by,treat%20hypogonadism%20%2D%2D%20testosterone%20deficiency.[10]Ibid.
[11]Ibid.
[12]https://www.webmd.com/arthritis/steroid-injections#:~:text=Local%20steroid%20injections%20are%20less,could%20have%20stronger%20side%20effects.
[13]https://www.molbiolcell.org/doi/full/10.1091/mbc.10.10.3113
[14]https://journals.lww.com/co-clinicalnutrition/Abstract/2009/01000/Maximizing_muscle_protein_anabolism__the_role_of.12.aspx
[15]https://insights.ovid.com/acta-physiologica-scandinavica/acpsca/2000/01/001/adaptation-human-skeletal-muscle-training-anabolic/1/00000191
[16]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2930527/
[17]http://www.ijdb.ehu.es/web/paper/12216987/myonuclear-domain-size-varies-along-the-lengths-of-maturing-skeletal-muscle-fibers
[18]https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/jphysiol.2013.264457
[19]Ibid.
[20]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3892473/
[21]https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejm199607043350101
[22]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergogenic_use_of_anabolic_steroids#Prevalence_and_user_profiles
[23]https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubs/brochures/steroids/professionals/#:~:text=The%20Substance%20Abuse%20and%20Mental,they%20had%20used%20anabolic%20steroids.
[24]https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-steroids-market-corticosteroids-segment-to-reach-value-of-us-8-6-bn-by-2025-end-qy-research-inc–853616656.html
[25]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16813932/
[26]https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/steroids-other-appearance-performance-enhancing-drugs-apeds/what-are-side-effects-anabolic-steroid-misuse
[27]Ibid.
[28]Ibid.
[29]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2612649/
